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NEW ORLEANS — Divers hired by the owner of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico that caught
fire recovered a body near the site last evening, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and the rig’s
owner.

Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega said late yesterday that the unidentified person was found by
divers hired by Houston-based Black Elk Energy who were inspecting the platform.

Vega said the Coast Guard was turning over the remains to local authorities. John Hoffman, the
president and CEO of Black Elk Energy, said in an email late yesterday that the body is that of one
of two crew members missing since an explosion and fire on the oil platform on Friday morning.

“Divers will continue to search for the second missing worker,” Hoffman wrote. “Our thoughts and
prayers are with the families.”

The news came shortly after the Coast Guard suspended a 32-hour-long search for the two missing
workers that covered 1,400 square miles near the oil platform, located about 20 miles southeast of
Grand Isle, La.

Four other workers who were burned severely remained at Baton Rouge General Medical Center last
night. Black Elk Energy spokeswoman Leslie Hoffman said their burns were not as extensive as
initially feared.

The blaze erupted while workers were using a torch to cut an oil line on the platform.

Meanwhile, officials said no oil was leaking from the charred platform, a relief for Gulf Coast
residents still weary two years after the BP oil spill.

James A. Watson, the director of Louisiana’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement,
said in a statement yesteray that his agency had begun “an investigation into the explosion and
fire aboard a Black Elk Energy production platform offshore Louisiana.”